Hong Kong responds to disaster differently from Beijing – but the gulf is narrowing

Independent inquiry into fire and media questions to leader would not happen in mainland China, but crackdown on dissent has begun

As Hong Kong mourns the victims of its worst fire in decades, the response to the disaster reveals the ways in which the semi-autonomous city retains differences from mainland China - and how some of those differences are being eroded.

Hong Kong's leader, John Lee, announced on Tuesday the creation of an independent committee" to investigate the blaze, which killed 151 people at the Wang Fuk Court apartment complex in Hong Kong's New Territories.